![]() What is a Spring tide?Ī spring tide or king tide can be defined as high high tides and low low tides or large tidal movement between one tide and the next. This again is due to the rotation of the earth and each phase of the lunar cycle that we pass dictates the size of the tides. Spring tides –Īs well as having high tides and low tides each day we see a variation in the size of these high tides and low tides. Low tides are caused when the earth is a right angles to the moon. On the beach, we notice that the sea is far away and leaves a large patch of sand once covered at high tide exposed. What is a low tide?Ī low tide is caused when the ocean is at its lowest point of the beach. A high tide is caused when the moon is overhead or at its closest to the earth and when it is at its furthermost away. On the beach, we notice that there isn’t much sand to walk on and the waves are breaking close to the shore or at the top of the beach. This is why you would have heard of the connection between the tides and the moon.Ī high tide is when the ocean is at its fullest point on the beach. Since the moon is closer to the earth it exerts more gravitational gradient than the sun and so has a stronger effect on the world’s oceans.ĭespite the moon being smaller, it is much closer to the earth so it exerts greater gravitational gradient over our oceans. The moon and the sun do not have an equal gravitational effect on the tides, with the moon counting for roughly 2/3rds of the gravitational pull as opposed to 1/3rd from the sun.Īlthough we experience a stronger gravitational pull in our day to day lives from the sun than that of the moon, the tides are not generated by the strength of gravity but instead by whats known as gravitational gradient. Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun, and as we all know we have high tides and low tides.Ī way to get one’s head around the process of tides is to think of a massive, slow moving wave created far, far out at sea that travels gradually towards the coastlines with every ebb, flow and cycle of the moon. This is because water is being pulled towards the moon on one side of the earth and the earth pulled away from the water on the other side of the earth, creating a bulging effect and a high tide at opposite sides of the earth. In reality, the part of the earth that is both closest to the moon and furthermost away from the moon will receive high tides within a 24 hour 50 minutes period, whilst other areas of the earth will then see a low tide. If this was the case there would only be one high tide and one low tide in each 24 hour 50 minute period. The moon and the sun affect the earth’s tides on a daily basis and follows a monthly lunar cycle and is why we are able to predict the tides in advance. A common misconception about tides is that the ocean only moves in one direction, towards the side of the earth that is closest to the moon. Because of this, the earth takes longer to catch up to the moon’s rotation. This is longer because the moon revolves around the earth in the same direction as the earth rotates on its axis. Unlike a solar day, a lunar day takes 24 hours and 50 minutes to make its full rotation of its axis. ![]() In a solar day, it takes the earth 24 hours to orbit around the sun. So for instance, if it’s high tide at 12pm today, the next high tide will roughly be at 12.50pm the following day.Īs both the sun and the moon have an effect on the earth’s tides we can split these two forces into separate days for the ease of understanding the effect of each. There is a period of 6 hours and 12.5 minutes between a high tide and a low tide.Įxample: High tide is at 12pm – the next low tide will be at 6.12.5pm (6 hours and 12.5 minutes) or there is a high tide every 12 hours and 25 minutes. The majority of the world will see two tides each day or within a 24 hour period.
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